Cyclin B1 acts as a tumor microenvironment-related cancer promoter and prognostic biomarker in hepatocellular carcinoma

OBJECTIVES: The present study aimed to develop a gene signature based on the ESTIMATE algorithm in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) and explore possible cancer promoters. METHODS: The ESTIMATE and CIBERSORT algorithms were applied to calculate the immune/stromal scores and the proportion of tumor-infiltrating immune cells (TICs) in a cohort of HCC patients. The differentially expressed genes (DEGs) were screened by Cox proportional hazards regression analysis and protein–protein interaction (PPI) network construction. Cyclin B1 (CCNB1) function was verified using experiments. RESULTS: The stromal and immune scores were associated with clinicopathological factors and recurrence-free survival (RFS) in HCC patients. In total, 546 DEGs were up-regulated in low score groups, 127 of which were associated with RFS. CCNB1 was regarded as the most predictive factor closely related to prognosis of HCC and could be a cancer promoter. Gene Set Enrichment Analysis (GSEA) and CIBERSORT analyses indicated that CCNB1 levels influenced HCC tumor microenvironment (TME) immune activity. CONCLUSIONS: The ESTIMATE signature can be used as a prognosis tool in HCC. CCNB1 is a tumor promoter and contributes to TME status conversion.